Newly released video shows former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell being loaded into an ambulance after suffering an apparent medical emergency at his Capitol Hill home last month.
The footage, published Friday by CNN and recorded by a neighbor, shows D.C. Fire and EMS personnel transporting the 84-year-old Kentucky senator on a stretcher on the morning of June 14.
In the video, McConnell’s face is not visible, and an orange blanket covers his lower legs, leaving his feet exposed.
According to CNN, the neighbor said another eyewitness reported that McConnell was not wearing an oxygen mask when paramedics transported him to a local hospital.
“One of my neighbors is like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s Mitch, I saw his face,’” the anonymous resident told CNN.
Previously released emergency dispatch audio indicated that McConnell had been found unconscious at his home and that first responders performed CPR before transporting him to the hospital.
The neighbor who recorded the video told CNN that the paramedics appeared calm during the response and did not display any visible signs of urgency or panic while caring for the senator.
“In a situation where perhaps time is of the essence, there seems to be a little bit more urgency, but there was no urgency here,” they said.
Speculation about the 84-year-old senator’s condition has intensified since his hospitalization, fueled in part by online rumors about the severity of his medical emergency.
While no evidence has been publicly presented to substantiate those claims, there is also no publicly available evidence to fundamentally dismiss them, such as video of the aged senator alive and well.
Senate Republican leaders and McConnell’s office have maintained that he is recovering and remains engaged with Senate business, saying he has continued to communicate with colleagues about legislative matters while hospitalized.
Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) issued a statement earlier this week saying that he and McConnell spoke by phone on Monday and shared “a lengthy and substantive conversation that covered a variety of topics, including national security.”
Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) released a similar statement, claiming the two had a phone call that lasted “roughly 20 minutes” and that McConnell was “fully engaged and is eager to get back to the Senate.”
CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings, a former McConnell adviser, said his onetime boss had called him and “sounded strong.”
But Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, sent a letter to McConnell’s office earlier this week seeking an update on his condition.
In the letter, Beshear indicated he had not heard from McConnell or his office regarding his current medical status.
“As Governor, I request that you fully update Kentuckians regarding the current status of your health,” Beshear, a Democrat who is seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender, wrote on Wednesday.
“As public officeholders, we have made a commitment to our constituents to do our best to represent them and to always be transparent,” Beshear’s letter continued.
President Trump also has said he hasn’t heard a peep from McConnell, and several Republican lawmakers have said they, too, remain in the dark.
Libby Dean, the White House correspondent for NewsNation, tweeted on Wednesday: “President Trump says he has ‘no idea’ how Sen. Mitch McConnell is doing and says he hasn’t spoken with the Kentucky Republican since McConnell’s hospitalization.”
Before announcing in February 2025 that he would not seek another term in the Senate, McConnell experienced several well-publicized health incidents, including episodes in which he briefly froze while speaking in public and multiple falls. One fall in early 2023 left him with a concussion and a fractured rib.
McConnell was also hospitalized briefly in February of this year with flu-like symptoms. In the months that followed, he was frequently seen traveling through the Capitol in a wheelchair, the New York Post noted.
